Saturday, May 26, 2012

On May 10th, I talked about the tam and mitts submitted to Knit Picks for their kit program. So I have good news and some not as good news.

By taking that extra 2 weeks to write and test knit the mitts I missed the unpublished deadline for kits for this fall. I was very upset but they said they still wanted the set online. When I asked about submission later they said it would be in the running. OK that's good. Then within 3 days it was published online as a customizable kit as they liked my photos. Outta sight I say!

Major thanks to Marina who is a super knitwear model in her off hours from archeology digs, knitting and distillery staff.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Two design deadlines are coming up. Both are for June 15th and both are similar although for different venues. I had been thinking of an Art Noveau based skirt for the Knitter's one and then the Knit Picks special call came out which threw me into a design tizzy. Most of the last 2 weeks has been spent with graph paper, knitting stitch books and my Knit Visualizer software. This means I have been more right brained than usual so my normal meandering is now really serpentine and disjointed (writing becomes harder too). I think almost constantly of how one piece or another can go together and rework the numbers and designs until they start to make sense and the swatch looks good.

Since I am preparing for a vending in central NY the weekend of June 9 (huh? what? more later) AND leaving for CA on June 8 for my granddaughter's HS graduation I figured I'd better get these submissions done sooner rather than later.

The limiting factor in both is the projected color schemes for next fall and winter. The colors are not my favs - creams, tans, maize, dark rusts and maroons with a bit of celadon and sea green - but I am stretching myself to embrace them. VBG

Both designs are going to be skirts. Certainly not for moi to wear as the idea is for a younger figure but they are definitely a fun addition to my repertoire.
So far this much is done on one design although the suggested colors are a bit different but I used what I had in my stash.

I take breaks by walking outside. The spring smells, the infinite shades of greens and the sunshine on the flowers are all invigorating and connecting. Rhododendrons and azaleas are coming into bloom early while the bleeding hearts are still flowering and the chipmunks are feasting.

When I need a change from thinking and math and following my scribbles I work on Jim's vest. All the yarn is spun and another 2 skeins need to be plied but otherwise a whole project's worth of yarn is done and ready. That's an accomplishment for me as usually my ADD cuts in and the spinning is stopped part way through in favor of something newer and 'shinier'. The yarn is a 3 ply - 2 plies of romney/alpaca I bought from Christine J at Hemlock last fall and the other ply is Twilight in bfl/silk.

The buns are doing well although the early heat has Gummy (in front, Keeper behind) plucking herself.

Hopefully one more Pixie Batt will get carded after lunch and then all the new ones up on the website this afternoon. At least that's the plan.

They sent me 3 colors of Palette fingering yarn in purples! I wanted to make something modern, not traditional fair-isle, and think I have suceeded. Excitement abounded for at least 2 weeks until I had to go left brained to write out the line-by line instructions. arghhhhh. And frog what did not work, reknit, rewrite, tink, rewrite, knit, rewrite, retype, redo the chart, knit, etc.

This pattern uses all 3 types of colorwork - stranded, woven and intarsia (well only a little bit of intarsia on a few rounds). It also uses I-cord cast-on and bind off. I got inspiration from my regular nature source but also from visiting MacKenzie Childs, up the lake a bit. Of course MacKenzie-Childs is over the top but I have always said that just a little bit makes a sparkling addition to any decor.
In this pattern set, a color block check is used to offset the solid areas.

Marina graciously modeled.
I am immensely satisfied with the design and product - Lily Tam and its sister pattern - Lily Fingerless Mitts. No modesty here. I really really love this set. They will be mailed to Knit Picks tomorrow and the pattern goes in to them later today. Alas until Knit Picks publishes it they are not for sale.

Carl has finally finally gotten me to the point of revamping my website. He has been very patient with hints but a few weeks ago made a special date with me to give me a presentation on how and why my website is sorely out of date. I can no longer ignore this.

Alas I am the webmistress. I also wear most of the hats in Spinning Bunny so spending hours and hours learning CSS and some javascript keeps getting put on the back burner. However this week I bit the bullet and learned to use Spry in Dreamweaver. A horizontal pull down menu (which will soon be on every page once the lists are settled) is here on our 7th Anniversary Prize page. Oh and a collapsible panel is here on the yarn palette page. The longer pages will eventually have these panels to shorten your scrolling time.

Now I am confused as to which hat to put on. Maybe lunch will restore my order.